motivated! September 4, 2008

i’ve come up with a new plan. i would rather take extra time planning my meals and workout schedule for the day ahead than taking time to upload pictures of every last morsel i consume. so i’ll post each day’s plan and post pictures of interesting, original or particularly photogenic food throughout the day as i see fit. hopefully this will work, it seems like a plan i can stick to so i’m excited about it… at least for now.

4 September 2008
breakfast
overnight oats
-1/2c. oats
-3/4c. almond milk
-vanilla + cinnamon
-1/2 frozen/thawed mashed banana
-1tbsp. slivered almonds
-1 spoonful AB
-drizzle SF maple
smoothie to-go
-1c. almond milk
-1 frozen banana
-handful frozen strawberries
-2oz. vemma (mangosteen supplement)
-1/2tbsp. flax oil
lunch
about 1c. butternut squash soup
yellow bell pepper slices
1/4c. homemade salsa (for dipping)
1 string cheese
possibly a takeout salad?
1 uncle eddie’s vegan chocolate chip walnut cookie
pre-workout snack
lemon larabar
verve! energy drink with mangosteen
dinner
kashi entree – black bean mango
toasted ezekiel english muffin
dessert
1 wei of chocolate piece

workout
jazzercise @ 545p (x2?)… i gotta get ready for my workshop so maybe i’ll stick it out for two classes tonight. we’ll see how i feel after one.

i like being productive and having organized plans! and clean workout clothes

i’ve gone too far August 22, 2008

i would have gone next door to pick up some lettuce for my lettuce wrap idea but my stomach was too hungry and decided it was too far to walk. so i just split this big bowl with dad. i ate about half and gave the rest to him.

and, for good measure, a close-up of all the goodness this bowl of spicy bulgur madness has to offer.

for the record, step class was ok. i was more concerned with getting the steps right than keeping my heart rate up so i’ll need to work on that if i go back but i was sweating the whole time and we finished the class with some killer weightlifting.

today i’m going to bodyfit at 430 for some more killer work with free-weights. immediately afterwards me and my workout buddies have plans to enjoy ladies night at a wine bar nearby. my sisters are invited, too, so i hope they come! it should be a fun night.

holding back August 19, 2008

i was definitely held back from eating the chili that i brought because of lack of can opener. the one i was going to buy was $15 and i realized that would have been just silly to spend when i could get a frozen entree for about a quarter of that and bring my can opener tomorrow. i decided to be adventurous and try an amy’s frozen entree. but really, i normally would never go for the enchiladas. however, i liked the vegetables on the ingredient list so i decided to give it a shot.

they were fantastic. so very very tasty but lots of sodium. i really need to cut back on the frozen food. they also kept me full for hours.

i couldn’t even eat dessert until around 230. i packed an uncle eddie’s vegan cookie that i wasn’t about to let go to waste.

around 445 i started to get hungry again so i had my luna bar. this also counts as pre-workout snack.

speaking of workout, on tap tonight is 30 minute prep-for-bootcamp spin followed by bootcamp with kettlebells.

the tofu experiment August 11, 2008

but first can i just say how crap it is to live on the west coast and have all the results of the olympics ruined for me because espn.com is my homepage? i don’t see anything until 3 hours after everyone on the east coast has already seen it. grrrr.

on the plus side, i’m officially back in the game. i went to spin and pedaled hard after work and i have plans to do the same thing tomorrow. i ate the lunch that i packed for myself and felt satisfied with my food all day and didn’t spend so much as an extra dime. basically, this will be my routine until something (ahem, A NEW JOB) dares to disrupt it. one can only hope…

after working out i wasn’t even hungry right away which is a miracle. i ventured into the kitchen to tackle the tofu but not before i put a load of towels in to wash and cleaned the kitchen a little. by the time i found kath’s bbq tofu recipe and was ready to press the tofu i started to get munchy. of course, the kashi h2h was sitting right in front of me so i dug in for a handful and decided it would taste much better with soymilk, even just a little bit. so i had a mug of h2h as an appetizer

then i pressed the tofu. it was an interesting process because i just ran out of paper towels so i had to use napkins that are substantially thinner (not to mention ones that say ‘happy new year’ on them) to drain the moisture. kath’s recipe called for a heavy cutting board for 20 minutes but i got impatient so i did this

there’s actually blocks of tofu under there

so i waited until 8, not even sure what time i put the blocks under the weight but 8 seemed like the right time to move them to the pan. here they are before i stuck ‘em in the oven

they were pretty juicy and thick which i’m pretty sure is the opposite of what they were supposed to be. but whatever, i wanted dinner so i put them in anyway. while the tofu was baking i poured myself a glass of wine

and sauteed some zucchini and mushrooms in a canola oil blend instead of olive oil because supposedly olive oil isn’t safe to cook with above certain temperatures. since i’m not sure i played it safe and went with the canola for the veggies. i think i went a little overboard on the oil but i drained the excess before i ate them

when i took the tofu out after the prescribed 20 minutes the blocks still looked mushy so i cut each block in half to get 4 pieces and put them back in for another 10 minutes. when i took them out i decided they were done

to prove it, i even ate one. on a toasted english muffin with an extra smear of bbq sauce and some spinach (but i didn’t add the greens ’til after i took the photo)

the verdict: meh. possibly feh. definitey not bad but not life-altering by any stretch of the imagination. pretty decent for my first go round. next time i think i’ll buy extra-firm tofu and actually marinate it after it’s been pressed for longer than 20 minutes. and slice the chunks properly before i put it in the oven the first time. also i’d like to make my own bbq sauce like kath did because the one i used had HFCS! no bueno. i’ll be on the hunt for HFCS-free ketchup…

for dessert i had an uncle eddie’s

and i’m spent. i wonder how long i can stay up watching the olympics before i pass out?

a smoothie before swimming June 10, 2008

but first, last night.
pre-workout snack was CHOCOLATE COVERED STRAWBERRIES. i know, so fancy. i would never buy these for myself but they were a gift so i had to eat them (only because i knew it wouldn’t put me over the edge, i got all three for less than 150 calories). and they totally hit the spot.

to be fair, i also had a taste of a new bar but only a small piece and no picture.

post-workout i didn’t have a snack handy except for the rest of the bar and i wasn’t feeling it so i decided to wait ’til dinner. dad grilled chicken with honey chipotle barbecue sauce and it was yummy. i had maybe 2 or 3oz. cut into strips and rolled in a whole wheat tortilla with avocado slices and salsa with a side salad.

i didn’t add up the calories for this one but i do know that i burned about 450 more at spin class and when i woke up this morning i had lost 0.2lbs! haha, it’s a tiny consolation that i’m moving in the right direction.

this morning i went swimming. i pushed myself to go faster than yesterday and i managed to squeeze in two extra lengths in the same amount of time. i beat my 10 lap time by two minutes. i logged 15 minutes and 22 lengths (11 laps). if i could only get there earlier i would have more time to swim… i’m working on it.

pre-workout i had the purple power smoothie. i redid the recipe and now it’s like this:

-1/2c. light vanilla soymilk
-1/4c. egg whites
-1/4c. liquid mangosteen supplement
-1c. frozen cherries
-1tbsp. powdered greens
-1/2tbsp. flax oil

awesome. this is officially my pre-morning workout breakfast/snack. it has 290 calories, 26g carbs, 9g protein and 8g of fat. power smoothie indeed.

and it tastes good, i swear! post-workout i had a flax waffle and a light string cheese to round out breakfast at 450 calories.

great start to a great day! this is totally the calm before the storm but i’m in a great mood about the rest of the week and the adventures it will bring anyway!

pictures from the weekend June 9, 2008

i’m back. i had a fantastic weekend, food-wise and otherwise
i think i like keeping away from the computer on the weekends, i’m on it all day everyday at the office so it’s nice to just be and enjoy everything else while i can. i’ll continue to take pictures of all my meals but i don’t think i will blog after each one like i do during the week.
saturday was my idea of a perfect day. i was so good with my food choices, too! it went like this:
-workout (jazzercise)
-farmer’s market
-errands
-lay out by the pool
-shopping
-dinner at a friend’s house
-chic night out with a different friend who was in town for the weekend
-in bed late BUT got to sleep in
here are the food pics

with morning workouts i find myself having breakfast in two parts. i’m still trying to strike a good balance of nutrients and calories to maximize the benefits of this. some days are better than others…

fresh sun-dried tomato goat cheese

homemade salsa

homemade turkey burger on an ezekiel sprouted grain bun

<INSERT FAVORITE SUNDAY SONG HERE>

i baked these from hungry girl’s recipe

yup i ate them all!

lies, i only ate this one.

and this one

rowing June 6, 2008

i found an article in shape magazine for a cardio workout on the rowing machine. i missed my jazzercise class today because i was stuck in the office ’til later than usual so i decided to give it a whirl. consensus: i really really liked it! only burned 216 calories in half an hour but i supplemented by doing another 30 minutes on the stairmaster. all in all, a great friday workout! lots of cardio that i’ve been lacking and, because it was on my time and not within a rigid class setting, i took as long as i wanted to stretch. i mean, i have nowhere else to be on this fine friday evening…

except at home eating of course! pre-workout i had some pistachios and the other half of the grapefruit for 225 calories.

that was actually still at the office. then i went to the bank, then to the gym, THEN i got to go home. i had the rest of the cottage cheese muesli with banana slices. i have to say, i have some pretty great ideas but that was my best idea ever!

and i’m super full for 370 calories! i think that was dinner. i had originally meant it to be just my post-workout snack but it’s already late-ish and i have to go to bed early tonight, the early saturday workout beckons! i think i’ll read or watch a movie for a couple hours because i really don’t feel like cleaning… i’ll save that for next week before sara comes! (my best friend sara is going to visit arizona next week! we were roommates in college and she’s from LA so i rarely get to see her.)

a crazy day June 6, 2008

yesterday it got really busy here at the office so i was unable to sneak a few minutes (let alone a few minutes after each meal!) to blog. i was so exhausted by the time i got home from climbing that all i did was throw dinner together before i crashed. so this is yesterday’s make-up post.
breakfast, 448 calories:

lunch was a series of snacks about 2-3 hours apart.
mid-morning, 280:

early afternoon, 195:

pre-workout (rock climbing!), 170:

post-climbing, no pic but myfitnesspal estimates my one piece of pizza (because that’s what was provided to the team) at 230. i chose a pepperoni because i figured it had less cheese. then i mopped up two napkins worth of oil before eating it.
later on at home i had a makeshift dinner to supplement, 207:

with dessert because my sweet tooth kicked in, about 60:

climbing was so fun, i would definitely go again if i had a chance! here’s a picture of me doing the damn thing

and after i realized how far up i climbed!

woohoo! June 4, 2008

i made it online to finish blogging about my eats today instead of playing catch-up in the morning! i think that merits at least a woohoo, if not a full on hooray…
i made lots of mini-meals today so i felt like i needed to eat more often. i can hardly wait 3 hours before eating again lately so i just make the snack-type mini-meals as low cal as i can. i’m a huge fan of larabars now that i’ve had one and i think it would make a good pre-workout snack (even though yesterday i had it post). today i found myself sneaking on over to AJ’s again but this time i was on a mission for larabars. they don’t carry them! i was sad but determined to find a bar that would be a good snack before my workout. i picked up two clif nectar bars and i was very happy with them. i had the cherry pomegranate before the gym and the chocolate one afterwards.

i ate it without the wrapper, actually.

it was really delicious, but i probably won’t buy the chocolate one again, i’d rather have a tab of dark chocolate for less calories and be just as happy.

small confession to make, i had one very small chocolate chip cookie that my spin instructor baked for us in honor of her birthday. even if it had 200 calories, i burned 448 during her class so i refuse to feel guilty!

snack attack June 4, 2008

i’ll just pick up where i left off because i’m horrible at keeping up with this blogging at night. i mentioned i had hoped i was done snacking yesterday after the trail mix but it wasn’t to be. i really felt like i needed something more substantial and carb-y pre-workout. luckily, there’s also a trader joe’s in the plaza next door to this office building so i made a pit stop before spin class/boot camp. i chose two bars to try, a clif z bar in chocolate chip and a larabar in apple pie. i ate the z bar before spin. probably too soon before working out because i could feel it sitting in my stomach but that’s what i get.

however, it didn’t stop me from getting the munchies immediately afterward. it was a 90 minute workout after all. or maybe i just really wanted to try the larabar and i knew it was sitting in my purse. either way, i ate it. and it was delicious. and it kept me satiated enough to tackle the grocery store. my rule is i’m not allowed to shop for food if i’m hungry.

i was very impressed, i’ll be buying these again in the future. the clif bar i could take or leave.